Beware the Slime
by Chridy
Summary: Waking up on a beach with no memory and no sign human life, Alex sets out to find a way home through a land seemingly empty of civilisation. But as time goes by, Alex discovers that there's more to this world than meets the eye and that some places should remain lost, some doors should remain closed and some words left unsaid.
1. Day 16

Dear diary,

My name is Alex and I'm an adventurer. At least, I think I am. I mean, why else would I be here?

Sorry, I'm a bit confused. I woke up on a beach a couple of weeks ago with barely any memory - all I get are flashes of the life I must have lived before I washed up on here. It took me a week to remember my name, but fortunately the important things came back quickly, like hunting for food and building crude huts.

The little I remember of my past life is that I was happy, had a nice home and people around me that I considered good friends. A contrast to my current situation, where I'm alone and living in a cold, stone hut. I haven't seen a single soul in the short time I've been here. I hope that's not an omen of things to come. If it is, well…

Anyway, memories. The most powerful memory I have is also the most frustrating. I remember starting a journey, but the destination and the reasons for taking it are a mystery, as is the reason why I'm here with no sign of a ship or other people around me. Is this empty land the intended destination, that I've simply become separated from my fellow travellers? Or did something happen to the ship and I've drifted far off-course to land here? I want to know what happened and if there's any survivors or even a way back, but I have the horrible feeling that I won't any time soon.

I try not to dwell on that too much, it's rather depressing. So, in the morning I'm going to explore the area and hope I can figure out where to go, or better yet find any signs of life besides the chickens and pigs and monsters. I hope that one day my memories will come back to me, but until then all I can do is survive and search for civilisation.

Fortunately, I must have lived off the land in some fashion because the basic survival skills are coming to me as naturally as if I'd been performing them all my life. It's a good thing too, as I have no memory of doing them and would likely have died by now without my instincts guiding me.

Oh yes, before I forget, I've started the dates on the day I arrived to help me keep track of my time here. I don't know why, but it comforts me to know what day of the week it is.

It's getting dark and I want to get to sleep before the monsters come out. At least I'm safe in my hut. My first attempts were little more than dirt and wooden hovels, but I quickly learnt or remembered how to mine and use stone so that now I'm in a hut that won't be knocked down by the zombies out there. But I can't stay. The monsters are coming every night now and I don't know how long I can survive here. I need to start moving so that I can search for my fellow travellers or, better yet, find a way home, using or building shelter as I go. It's going to be tough, but I won't find anyone if I just sit here.

I'll write when I can, see you soon.

_Alex_


	2. Day 17

Dear diary,

I climbed a nearby mountain today, well, a tall hill, and the view was stunning. This place is breathtakingly beautiful. But, there isn't any civilisation in sight. I couldn't see any cities, towns, villages or even another hut for miles around.

When I climbed down, it started getting dark and monsters started appearing, I had to rush back to my hut from yesterday. Two steps forward, one step back. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

_Alex_


	3. Day 18

Dear diary,

I made some good distance today, despite the hills slowing me down a bit. Not much else to say really. I'll write soon.

_Alex_


	4. Day 19

Dear diary,

Last night was hell. I'm not kidding. There were more monsters than ever before and rather than ignoring me as they usually do, they spent almost the whole night battering my door and walls or climbing onto the roof.

Let's just say I didn't get much sleep last night.

As I lay in bed, I had an epiphany. If I tried sailing around this land I should be safer because there don't seem to be many monsters in the sea. So today I've built a little raft and stocked it with food and water ready to set out tomorrow.

In the meantime, I've reinforced my hut in the hope it'll block some of the sound. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep better tonight.

I'll probably not be able to write whilst on the raft until I reach a safe place on land, so I'll see you soon, hopefully.

_Alex_


	5. Day 23

Dear diary,

I found a village today. Living there were these strange creatures that were like people, but at the same time weren't. Do you know what I mean? No, I suppose not.

I don't know how to describe them except that they're weird-looking. They're all almost identical in appearance, except for the clothes they wear but even that's not always the case as a few of them wear very similar clothes. When I spoke to them (thankfully their voices are different, if only by a fraction) they offered me weird exchanges. For example, one offered me an emerald for a load of wool, but I guess that if he's cold a shiny stone isn't going to help him much.

The village itself seems to have been built by a madman. It's on top of some hills, none of which are big enough for the houses to sit flat and in some places are too high to climb or jump down from without hurting yourself. I walked into one house and was immediately confronted with a sharply sloped floor about a meter from the front wall. Once I'd gotten to the top and stood on the small area of flat floor, I saw a gap in the roof that was a meter high and stretched almost the entire width of the house. Madness I tell you, the giant spiders I see every night must swarm through that gap. Did the builder never think to use shovels or pickaxes to level the ground or even finish the buildings?

However, the gardens - or farms, I'm not sure, they're a bit small to be full farms - were flat and I was able to harvest some food, which was a surprisingly familiar task. For a short while I felt as if I was home again, from the moment I arrived I felt at peace for the first time since I woke up on that beach.

I think I've finally accepted that I can't go back, not any time soon at least. I have no idea where it is, who anyone was or where I could even begin to look. But I think I've found a place to stay. The villagers are nice and welcoming, if a bit quiet and weird, and the view is nice. Plus, the hills are providing plenty of exercise.

Yes, I think I'll stay.

_Alex_


	6. Day 24

Dear diary,

A horde of zombies attacked last night. Nobody was hurt thankfully and the damage was minimal, but everyone's shaken up. Which is probably why they've decided to blame me.

Seriously?

I couldn't create zombies and wouldn't do it even if I could. But no matter, they won't say anything but it's pretty clear they want me to leave. I have finished packing the few possessions I own and will be leaving in the morning.

Goodnight,

_Alex_


	7. Day 25

Dear diary,

I sailed my little boat across the bay towards a beach I had seen on the other side. I quickly discovered that it's not a beach, but a small desert sat between snowy forests.

Gotta love the quirks of this world. However, when I stepped onto the land I felt something strange, a vision of the great things I could build here.

So now I've built a small shelter in the lee of a hill right next to the bay, and tomorrow I will begin building my dream home.

Goodnight,

_Alex_


	8. Day 28

Dear diary,

I've found an old mine. I dug a diagonal shaft down for raw materials when I broke through into a series of tunnels. It was pitch black down there but for the glow of a lava spring around the corner. Fortunately I had some torches with me and was able to light the shaft and some of the corridors, marking my trail and hopefully scaring the monsters away.

Speaking of monsters, I did find some, but with my trusty sword in hand I was able to defeat them before they did the same to me. At night though, it's the same as usual and I lie awake hearing them shuffling around outside. Fortunately, none of them seem to know what to make of my shelter, so they haven't disturbed me much, but I fear they will soon.

This mine is an interesting discovery though. There might be enough materials down there to make a truly spectacular and safe house that will stop monsters from ever disturbing me again.

Or better yet, I could build my own village as a safe haven from the monsters that roam these lands.

This will need some thought.

_Alex_


	9. Day 40

Dear diary,

Sorry it's been so long since I last wrote but I've been busy exploring this abandoned mine. It's a truly vast place with miles of tunnels and caves waiting to be explored. I even found some old minecarts and chests with items still inside them! They are truly remarkable creations as they have even kept bread as fresh as the day they came out of the oven. I'll be using them to keep my food fresh from now on.

There's riches beyond my wildest dreams down there, but with no one to sell it to they aren't worth diddly squat. However, if the plan that's been slowly forming in my head comes to fruition, that won't be a problem as people will be coming to me.

Not all riches are gold, as the old saying goes (remembered it last night after trying for a week) and there is plenty of material down there that can be used to construct a nice little town or even a city. In fact, there's probably enough down there to make something spectacular, a place to make even the gods to jealous. It would be a haven for people travelling these lands, a stopping point for travellers or a new home for those looking to settle.

Of course it doesn't come without it's problems: darkness, crevasses, monsters and a bad smell all make it challenging to explore, but with my torches and tools I am making good progress and my skills are slowly improving every day.

I'm tired from digging all day, so goodnight for now.

_Alex_


	10. Day 45

Dear diary,

I have decided to build a city. It'll be underground and will replace the mine. There's enough resources there and with the large cave systems, hundreds of tunnels and the ravines cutting through the ground I don't have to do nearly as much digging.

I have already been clearing out tunnels and knocking through dividing walls to open them out and make them easier to explore, so it's not a great leap from that to digging out space for houses. I've also been filling the area with torches and haven't encountered any monsters within the lit areas - perhaps they dislike it? They only come out at night, so I guess they don't like light and the zombies and skeletons are definitely hurt by sunlight. This could work as long as I have enough torches, but with the amount of coal down here I don't think that's going to be a problem.

I think this could work.

_Alex_


	11. Day 47

Dear diary,

I found another chest with some horse armour and a diary inside. It got me thinking about the people that worked here. Where are they?

This is a huge and ancient place, but there's no sign of its previous occupants, not even a single body. There must have been hundreds or even thousands of people mining out these tunnels, but there's not a single sign of their presence. They couldn't be the… no, they must have left for some reason or were taken away by other duties. It's an interesting line of thought, but I don't want to follow it. I'm not sure I'd like what I find down that way.

Unfortunately, the diary I found isn't particularly interesting as it's the figures, plans and notes of a mine manager alongside figures and scribbles that look like calculations and inventory totals. There's also frequent mentions of collapsing or flooding tunnels that have to be evacuated or cause the whole mine to be evacuated, I didn't realise it was quite so dangerous! I'll definitely be taking it a bit more carefully from now on.

The pages are absolutely packed with these scribbles, but they don't provide any clues as to the author's fate. I wonder if I can find any more of these diaries...

_Alex_


	12. Day 55

Dear diary,

I've been working outside for the past week trying to improve the entrance to my underground city. I'm also trying to remove the hill beside it so that it has a nice view of the ocean, but it's taking forever.

You see, my idea has grown a bit. The underground city is going have above-ground huts and hotels that act as gates to and from the city as well as a place to stay for passing travellers or for people tired of the caves. It may mean that monsters have more chance of getting in if they manage to break into these, but I think I can make them secure enough that it shouldn't be much of a problem.

Yes, this is going to be good.

_Alex_


	13. Day 72

Dear diary,

Well, this is a bit longer than I expected, but no matter, I'll just have to make sure I do it sooner next time.

Where to begin? Well, I've started clearing out an area that will become the entrance platform. It's a high plinth with stairs all around it and a staircase leading up to the surface. My plan is that it'll be the main entrance to the city, and as such it will be the grandest.

Those freaking Slimes though! Seriously, they are so annoying. Hundreds of the darn things have come bouncing out of the tunnels in the past few weeks like a tide of sweat from some Slime god or something. At least they're not much of a threat, the most they do is knock the wind out of me and it tingles when I touch them. They're easy enough to kill or avoid, but there's a ton of slime remains to clean up. Ugh, it's disgusting.

Not much else to say really. I've started on the city, fought Slimes and explored a few caves. Yep, that's it. See you soon,

_Alex_


	14. Day 74

Dear diary,

Ow. I'd like to retract my statement that Slimes are harmless. It was like fate had heard me and decided to send along a dozen or more Slimes.

Turns out that the bigger Slimes have enough strength to hit me and hurt a bit or even push me off ledges. The tingling sensation was also much more noticeable as I was battered by them and when I woke up today the tingling had become a burning and I was covered in rashes.

The only reason I can think of for why that might happen is that Slimes have poisonous skin or, more worryingly, digest what they touch or what falls into them. It's not a nice thought, but it makes sense. Come to think of it, I haven't seen them actually eat anything but I have seen a few with shadowy objects inside them.

It makes me shudder thinking about it. I think I'll start wearing armour from now on, especially as the smaller they are the more poisonous they seem to be.

Until next time,

_Alex_


	15. Day 150

Phew! Long time no see! I've been very busy and I finished building the first houses yesterday! I've already started on the next project and the bank I've been building since about day 60 is still under construction, but it's pretty momentous to have one row of houses practically complete and the big house at the end of the row well on its way to joining them.

I have big plans and they're growing all the time with new ideas being added to my list of projects. For example, there's now a large park behind the houses on the left that will have trees and animals in them for people to pet or ride (I've got a herd of sheep beside the surface entrance and there are herds of cows and horses nearby that I can easily fetch). The right side will also get a park, but I just want to get one done for now as a test to see how it'll look.

Just a short one today as I'm pretty tired, hopefully it won't be so long until the next one! Goodnight.

_Alex_


	16. Day 170

Dear diary,

Well, it's not quite as long as the last gap.

I've been working hard, the hill's gone outside the surface entrance, the bank's half-finished and I've explored a lot more of the caves. I found another diary too, the other day. It's similar to the first one, full of notes on the mine's production and doodles by a bored worker but it has a broader view, noting a wider variety of goings on. The other diary only gave a hint as to how dangerous this mine was, but it turns out that tunnels were evacuated almost daily and that the whole mine was evacuated once a month on average. However, this diary is only half full, the last entry simply saying that everyone's being evacuated again, but it doesn't give a reason why.

It's a bit creepy. Before, I could believe that they just lost interest or found a better mine, but now I know they left and were running from something.

I want to know what happened to them, but at the same time I don't want to.


	17. Day 176

Dear diary,

Firstly, I'm sorry the last entry was so dark. That diary had been on my mind and I'm afraid I let my imagination get the better of me. Now that I've thought about it a bit more though, the more I realise that evacuation doesn't mean they were fleeing something. It could have simply been that the tunnels were starting to flood and they needed to leave, or a lava lake had burst through a roof somewhere and they needed time to sort it out. I guess that whatever happened was the last straw to convince them that it just wasn't worth it.

Moving on, freaking rabbits man! They're suicidal! They dig their warrens deep, not wide like I've seen elsewhere, and keep breaking through the ceiling to my city to plunge to their deaths. You'd think this would stop them, but no. Turns out they consider the hole a shortcut and if I don't block it up they come through in a disgusting horde of suicidal bunnies.

I've started using cobblestone to hold up the ceiling and suicidal rabbits are becoming much less of a problem. Ugh, I get the shivers just thinking about it.

_Alex_


	18. Day 219

Argh! Sorry it's another long gap, I just get so wrapped up in work and down here the days melt into each other with barely a sign of difference. I'm just glad I've been marking my days down, I wouldn't have the first clue of how long I'd been here otherwise.

I guess I should tell you what I've done since my last entry.

Well, I built a hotel on the surface and now have a column of stone and ladders stretching all the way from it to the entrance platform on the bottom level. I've also been clearing away a lot of the rock and dirt, when I look around now it's not nearly so full as it was just a couple of months ago. It's growing more cavernous every day. That's good, I can start constructing bigger and better buildings soon.

Not much else to say really, hopefully I won't leave it so long again but if nothing happens, well, I don't want to waste pages saying so.

See you soon,

_Alex_


	19. Day 256

Dear diary,

It's been a year since I started you so I just wanted to say thank you for being there all this time. I've never had a friend so good as you. I've never had any friends. I'm so lonely.


	20. Day 257

Erm, sorry about yesterday's entry, I, er, had a few drinks. Bye for now,

_Alex_


	21. Day 281

Dear diary,

Not much has changed with the city, I've just been clearing it out to make room for buildings. But that's been a bit boring, so I've started exploring this place again.

Over the past year, I've been lighting this place up as I explore it bit-by-bit and now that I'm exploring it properly, I've seen things I never noticed when I rushed through the first time. For example, I didn't realise that this isn't the only mine. Nearby is another ancient mine that overlaps with this one at the fringes.

Also, it seems that this isn't the only time these places have been mined. There's old and rotting supports still visible in tucked away corners and sealed, dusty chambers. I even found some tunnels that I thought were just old caves, but when I looked more closely I discovered to my amazement that they are actually extremely old mines. I can tell they're extremely old because they're much cruder than the other tunnels and the stone has much rougher marks from pickaxes. It makes me excited to think that this has been a gathering place for hundreds or even thousands of years.

The strangest discovery I've made here by far are that the Slimes, along with being much more common here than anywhere else I've seen, only attack me from the west. It took me a while to see it, but I eventually noticed that they only attack me from one direction and will move around me in order to attack me. I've never seen anything like it.

Oh dear, it's getting late. One more, then, before I go to sleep.

You remember my earlier entry about the rabbits digging down? It seems that some have made it a lot further than I thought as I've found some tiny tunnels down here near the bedrock, which is incredible. The tunnels are a bit strange though as they're really smooth, unlike the other tunnels nearer the surface I've seen that are very roughly dug, with claw marks visible everywhere. My only guess is that these are old tunnels worn smooth by the passage of generations of rabbits or by flowing water as I've seen a few that are flooded.

The weird thing is that I haven't seen any rabbits since I got here.

Oh well, see you soon.

_Alex_


	22. Day 293

Dear diary,

Sorry, I'm terrible at keeping this up but mining and exploring are making me too tired to write. But today was a bit easier as I was just tending to my small farms and planning out the city. So, time for more stories of discovery.

As I've wandered around this place, I've found old dungeons with treasures inside. When I found the first one, I felt like an old explorer discovering a new world and the relics of ancient civilisations. In fact, I still feel like that when I find one.

The chests inside these dungeons are amazing. Either the ancient people knew how to create fantastic storage chests, or this mine is perfect for long-term storage, because I keep finding stuff in chests that's as good as new, like bread that tastes like its fresh from the oven despite how old it is. Don't ask me how I know it's old, I just do.

Anywho, I've found a few of these dungeons now and they've been reasonably helpful. They've provided a few items I don't have the skill or knowledge to make, so that's always good, and they've been handy for providing emergency food if I'm running low when I discover them.

I've also been finding diaries of the people that used to work here. Some of them have been entertaining with hilarious jokes, epic stories or awesome pictures and some have been boring old logbooks detailing the mine's work, but none of them have shed any light on what happened here. Except for one.

I found it yesterday and read it quickly enough - it's only part-full. It's the first book I've found that has anything about the time the place shut down, although it's still not very clear. I think the original owner must have just been a low-level worker as the last entry says that they're all being evacuated but the writer doesn't know why. They offer a couple of theories - flooding, lava breaking through a wall and so on - but nothing concrete. They sign off, saying that they'll be back soon after the evacuation's over and the "management has got it's act together", but as I said, it's the last entry.

Looks like I'm not the only one who doesn't follow their own timings, ha.

Too dark, sorry.

_Alex_


	23. Day 380

Dear diary,

Sorry it's been so long, I've been really busy and haven't had the energy to write.

I've explored loads more caves and caverns and emptied some out. I've cleared out tons of material around the entrance platform so that it's much more spacious. The bank and the black and white house at the end of Rainbow Row are now finished and I even built a portal to the Nether and a small hut there that I use as a base for quartz and glowstone mining. I've also done lots of other little jobs, like moving all of my stuff into the bank, expanding the farms and creating the park behind the houses opposite the first park.

I've also started excavating an area next to the bank for a market of sorts, with a forge, cafés and shops. I can almost see them now. In fact, when I wake up each morning I can almost see buildings in the distance and people walking between them. I'm looking forward to making that a reality so much it burns, but I know I have to have patience. So until that day arrives, I'm just going to keep plugging away.

So as you can see, there's been lots done but it's all been bitty and gradual or I was just too tired to write about it. I'll try to write more often, but I'm not going to write for the sake of writing, so we'll see how it goes.

Goodnight,

_Alex_


	24. Day 480

It's nearly two years now since I woke up on that beach, which is a bit depressing but it's still a month away, there's still time for someone to arrive.

I've been quite productive this month, so rather than just blurting out what I've done, I thought I'd make a nice ordered list.

1\. Built a load of shops, cafes and other stuff that has essentially made me self-sufficient down here under the ground. It only took a week, surprisingly, but I had all the space and materials I needed to just build them.

2\. I almost drowned after clearing out space underneath a nearby river. It'll be tricky clearing out under that but so far it's going well.

3\. Built a vault in the bank.

4\. Put the finishing touches to the houses of Rainbow Road (spare materials, plants, welcome messages, etc.)

5\. Built a secret room to store all my dangerous and private materials and items, like TNT, the diaries I've discovered and you, my diary. My laboratory, as I like to call it, also has its own Nether Portal in case I need to travel over there for potion materials. Naturally the other side is disguised as well.

6\. More digging, exploring and Slime fighting.

So yeah, I've been busy. Talk to you soon,

Alex


	25. Day 512

Dear diary,

It's now two years since I arrived in this land. In that time I've met no-one but the strange villagers (who I don't think are human) but there must have been civilisation here before, many times in fact if the different parts of this enormous abandoned mine are any clue.

I can barely remember my time before I arrived here and I don't get the flashes of memories I described in my earliest entries anymore. I feel like I'm losing my past, but I'm not sure if that's a bad thing. Will I become less and less human as I forget who I was? Or will losing the pain of a life lived and forgotten help me move on to a better place in my mind? I don't know. What I do know is that building this city has become my life now and is the only thing keeping me sane, I can only hope that people do arrive and start to use it or it'll all be for nought.

It's becoming more and more painful to write these, I'm not sure if I can continue, you contain too many memories. Who knows? I may change my mind later and come back to you, but for now it's goodbye.

_Alex_


	26. Day 1028

Wow, it's been two whole years since I've done this. What do I say? Well, I guess I'll start from where I left off.

3 months after my last entry, someone finally appeared! His name is Jordan and he stayed for a few days as he recovered from injuries gained from exploring the wilderness. He helped around a bit, mining and digging despite my protests. Then he left for a couple of months and returned with some friends. This time he chose to stay and chose a house to live in before giving his friends a quick tour of the place.

It was wonderful to not be alone at last. Jordan's friends didn't stay long, only a few days to meet the crazy person building a city, but they helped out a bit and promised to return with their friends as they thought that what I had done was "awesome". That was nice.

Jordan and I worked for several weeks just finishing stuff that had been started and then left, tidying up rough bits and clearing some tunnels of monsters. The ever-present Slimes were annoying but with two of us killing them when they appeared it wasn't such a problem anymore.

By the time his friends and his friends' friends came back, the place was looking really good. But we underestimated how many people would be arriving and didn't have enough places to stay. For a while everyone was sharing a room with one or two people, even in the hotel on the surface. But with that many people working to clear space it took no time at all for new houses to be built and soon everyone had their own place. The farms also grew very quickly until we knew there was enough food for everyone, and then it all settled down as people began to just explore the place and get to know it.

Since then, the place has grown incredibly fast as everyone helps out and sometimes they bring back even more people from their adventures. Where they find these people I don't know, but I don't care as it's nice to be with normal people after so long spent alone.

Unfortunately, my idea of everyone just living in the city and enjoying it isn't working out very well as everyone just refuses to sit back and relax. Instead, they all help out by digging, mining, farming, cleaning or any of the hundred other jobs that need to be done, even if they're only here for a day. Not that I'm complaining of course, it's nice to not be working alone, but it's a bit disappointing that my idea didn't work.

Jordan has just pointed out that it's because the city's so small at the moment everyone feels obligated to help, that when it's bigger and people can't see the walls because they're so far away it can start being used as I dreamt it should. Yeah, maybe. That's a long way away though.

I've also found numerous diaries and journals from the ancient miners and have begun piecing together what happened. It seems that something bad happened that forced the mine to evacuate and close down, but I knew that already.

However, I found a few diaries where the authors expressed guilt and fear that they'd done something terrible and had endangered everyone. The strange thing about these is that they all date to around the same time, so I assume they were a group of friends or workers who happened to find something they thought was dangerous and weren't careful. They all talk about finding a weird cave with a strange door, but they don't say what was beyond it after they opened it. Whatever it was they did, they either had bad timing or did actually do something, but I don't see how a strange door would let through anything that would empty a mine like this for thousands of years.

I haven't told anyone about this as I don't want to alarm them, but I worry every time someone explores a new cave or corridor that they're going to unleash the same catastrophe and destroy everything I've built. I know I should stop them or go with them so that I can stop them from doing it, but I can't. For some reason I can't get the words out and every time I go to stop a group, I find myself paralysed with fear.

I'm scared, worried and I don't know what to do.


	27. Day 1063

I found another diary today. It's, well, it confirms my some of my worst fears.

It's owner appears to have been a guard on the outskirts of the mine, protecting the workers from any dangerous monsters that came from unexplored areas. He changed post regularly, more often than not following the worker team he was guarding.

From the earliest pages he noted the rumours and stories of guards in the eastern tunnels that say they're cursed - the tunnels that is, not the guards. Apparently, a lot more monsters appear from the east than anywhere else. I haven't seen this personally, perhaps they've all spread out now or died off?

After a few months, the unnamed author gets posted to an eastern tunnel, where he has to fight off monster attacks every day. Now here's the interesting part, the number of monsters suddenly starts increasing around the same time as the other workers' find the strange door.

The attacks get worse over time until the mine is hiring what amounts to a whole army to defend it. At this point, they realise the futility of their efforts and begin the evacuations, pursued by a tide of monsters.

Unfortunately, there's no more entries. The last one simply states;

"The evacuation begins tomorrow, I'm not sure I'll be able to write you again. So I'm going to put this somewhere safe near the entrance. Hopefully someone will find this and figure out what happened, then turn around and leave before they let the monsters out."

This has me worried. Where are the monsters now? Have they all died and turned to dust over the centuries? Or are they still here waiting for the chance to escape and kill everyone on the surface?

I hope I never find out the answer to those questions.

_Alex_


	28. Day 1070

I know what happened to this place.

I found another diary. It was inside a giant cube of obsidian and Nether bricks that had big chunks taken out of it. No one else saw it and I was able to demolish it and return to the privacy of my lab before anyone could.

It starts off like all the other diaries, a bit slow and sometimes boring as the author talks about work, friends and family. But eventually it starts talking about the Slimes and how they seemed to appear from a certain area more often than anywhere else. Unlike the guard from the earlier diary, this author worked out that the Slimes weren't just appearing from the east, they were coming from somewhere specific.

So the author convinces his friends to go exploring with him to find the source of the monsters, maybe even stop them once and for all. Instead they find a weird room with a strange door inside it with nothing behind it. There were also scribbles all over the walls that they soon realised were actually a poem that when he read it, a cold wind blew from the door and an enormous echoing explosion came from deep below the bedrock they were standing on.

Naturally, they fled, or in his own words, "ran like scared, little children".

The next few entries detail his spiral into madness as he struggles with the extreme fear and guilt caused by finding that room, although he's confused as to why he was feeling that way because they didn't do anything wrong. By the time of the evacuation, he's a broken man.

But, I have to admire him as he still had the strength to decide to fix his mess and convinced his friends to help him. They sealed the entrance behind the fleeing people with the ultra-hard obsidian and otherworldly Nether brick. As he was writing his last entry, they were preparing to set out to find and close the door.

I don't know if they succeeded or not, but I assume they did as there isn't a tide of monsters roaming these tunnels. I'm desperate to stop this ever happening again, so I've begun making preparations to prevent it or defend against it if it does somehow happen. So far, I've only managed to introduce a rule that requires people to report back on any ruins, buildings or strange rooms they find before they try exploring them. Although I've got some rough ideas for strong houses and safe rooms dotted around the city. The difficult part will be keeping it all secret so that people won't panic.

_Alex_


	29. Day 1111

Dear diary,

Well, at least the date was easy to write. Just thought I'd check in as I haven't written much for a while.

I've managed to, with the help of some of the city's best builders, build a rather magnificent castle if I do say so myself. Using vast amounts of obsidian and Nether brick, the castle is an enormous fortress with enough room and food production for everyone currently living in the city to stay there indefinitely.

I've also been building secret rooms all over the place and stocking them with food, armour and weapons. It's a slow process though. I'm doing them by myself and trying to keep them secret is tough. Fortunately I've linked them all with tunnels and redstone wire, so I can reveal them at any time. Although, now that I think about it, I could probably say they're emergency safe places in case monsters get in. That wouldn't cause panic.

Yes, that's a much better idea. Especially as they can all help and build their own. I don't know why I didn't think of it before.

On a happier note, our first babies were born, which was so exciting the whole city just stopped to celebrate. We've also had more and more people coming and going, it's become a real hub for travellers! Which means of course that our city grows ever faster, which also means that the chances of finding whatever caused this place to be closed off increase every day.

I sincerely hope that it's never found, that those ancient people destroyed or hid the door far beyond our reach.

_Alex_


	30. Day 1149

Dear diary,

It happened, someone found the door and opened it. As soon as it happened, I somehow knew it had been done and the fuzziness that's been filling my mind quickly faded away. Everyone else is feeling the same and there's a lot of confusion at the moment about what it means.

Unfortunately, we don't have time to work it all out as just two days after the door had opened, a horde of Slimes came pouring down the tunnels and crashed into the city wall. Since then it's been a battle for survival as we try to fend off the Slimes who now completely surround us.

Everyone's fighting the Slimes, but there's so many we've already lost five to the horde. So far though, nothing else has tried to attack, not even zombies or creepers. It's like they've been scared off or killed by the Slimes. We've built crude walls around our city, but they keep appearing inside it somehow and when a slime gets in, that's it, that area's infected and slimes will always appear there. Suzy, our chief librarian, found that out when she killed one in her home, went to bed and woke up under a dozen of the monsters. We burnt the place to the ground and they still come out of it.

So now we just wall off the infected areas. Our city's shrinking by the day. Those that can't fight have left, guarded by armed citizens whilst the soldiers are fighting the Slimes against on the walls.

I've tried to find the person who found the door but I've so far failed. If I can just find the cursed thing I might be able to close it and stop this horde.

I've got to go now, they need me on the wall. I hope to see you soon,

Alex


	31. Day 1166

Dear diary,

We're holed up in the fortress at the moment, but I fear it won't be long before we will have to take the tunnels to the last unsealed exit. The Slimes are just throwing themselves at the walls and are slowly dissolving it. There's nothing we can do but build extra layers inside to hold them off a little longer. We can't go out to repair the damage as there millions of the things now and they don't stop. If they suffer exhaustion, they don't show it and any that do stop would probably be pushed forward by the weight of those behind.

We're not the only survivors, thankfully, others are out there in the bunkers we'd built or have found another way to survive. The largest group is guarding the slowly-shrinking walls around the last exit, giving people time to find a way to them and to safety.

I have to go, it's my shift on the wall. Here's hoping I see you soon,

_Alex_


	32. Day 1190-ish

Dear diary,

Our city's shrunk to just the first houses I built, everything else is gone, even the fortress has fallen, it only managed to hold them off for a couple of weeks. We've lost almost everyone who stayed to fight, there's only a few of us left, barely enough to cover the pitifully short walls we have still standing against the millions of Slimes out there.

Earlier today we all voted on whether we would stay or leave. Almost everyone voted to stay, those that didn't weren't able to anyway and were taken by the few citizens that had stayed this long. We're going to die, but we're going to make damn sure that the Slimes won't have it easy and that our people get away safely.


	33. Day 1190-ish and a half

We have to rotate the walls quickly for rest and recovery, I'm writing this between stints, making it hard to keep track of things.

Thumping began echoing through the caves earlier, a slow rhythmic beat that doesn't sooth us at all. The fact we can hear it from so far away means that whatever's causing it must be enormous. It sounds like an enormous creature of some kind. Perhaps it's the source of this madness? An ancient beast or god that controls the Slimes? Whatever it is, it's getting closer.


	34. Day 1191-ish

Remember the diary that revealed what closed this mine? Before this all started, I had hoped to find the poem mentioned in it in the hope that I could figure out a way to stop what was happening. Well, I found the diary again and discovered that the poem was in it all along!

Written in pieces in the margins, I just thought they were random musings but it finally clicked earlier today. I've now managed to put it all together and I plan to try it as soon as I can, but I don't dare write it anywhere it can be found after this is over.

If the last thing I do is stop this thing from escaping, I will die happy.


	35. Day 1192-ish

We didn't realise there were any other survivors out there until today. There's no more now though.

I woke up this morning to screaming. I rushed to the wall and watched with the others as Slimes began disappearing in one area like water down a funnel. Somehow the screams of the poor people inside the bunker made it out, but they were mercifully brief as the Slimes blocked the hole with their bodies.

We watched the pulsating mass in the desperate hope that someone might make it out alive, but when the Slimes came bouncing back out and the horde surged towards us again, we knew it was over. We're the only ones left now.


	36. Day 1193-ish

We've sealed the entrance. Now only the clock indicates the passing of time. When I stand on the wall, the circle of light from our last stand extends out into a roiling sea of black and green, the Slimes constantly moving towards us - no more attacking from the west now, they're attacking from every direction. I haven't worked up the courage to try the poem yet, I don't know if it will work or if it will just make things worse.

I've also activated the self-destruct in the tunnels below the city, flooding them with lava to incinerate anything that might have made it down there and tried to come up below us. There's no-one else out there to use them, so there's no point leaving them open. If anyone was sheltering in them, well, it's a quicker and easier death than the Slimes offer.

I think the worst part of this is the silence. Apart from the

"Splat. Splat. Splat"

of the Slimes hitting the ground and walls, and the

"BOOM. BOOM. BOOM"

of whatever's coming, they don't utter a sound. They don't scream, they don't curse, I'd even take moaning if it stopped the infernal splats!


	37. Day 1194-ish

We tried escaping through the Nether this morning. It ended in disaster when a tide of Slimes poured through and crushed those nearest the portal to death before it could be closed and the Slimes killed. I guess they've gone through the other portals in the city and made it here, just waiting for us to try.

With nothing else to lose, I tried reading the poem. It didn't work. In fact, the huge creature sped up! I don't know what to do now, the door's open and whatever it was keeping locked up has escaped. I can't see a way to get the creature to go back, even if I knew where the door was.

Is it worth going on? Should we kill ourselves now before that creature arrives? Whatever it is, we know it won't be a pleasant death. We can feel it's rage permeating the air, driving the Slimes forward with ever greater ferocity.

We're doomed, what's the point?


	38. Day 1195-ish

We don't have long now, the slimes have pulled back and are simply watching us from just outside the light, dead silent as they wait, millions of them spread out in a sea around us. All we can hear now is each other and the steady booming of the approaching beast. We can't see it yet, but it's getting closer.


	39. Day 1197-ish

Jordan couldn't take it anymore and began shooting the unmoving Slimes, but each one he killed was immediately replaced. We had to tackle him to the ground to stop him wasting our arrows. We need to save everything we have to battle what is coming. He refused to stay down though and escaped later, charging out into the horde with his sword and killing dozens before suffocating under their weight.

Inspired and horrified in equal measure at his bravery, we decided that if we were going to die, we were going to die making sure this creature never escapes. At the very least, we will hurt it enough that it thinks twice about invading the surface, or if we're really lucky, hurt it enough to prevent it from being able to get to the surface.


	40. Day 1199-ish

It's nearly here, it's steps are so close that I'm sure if the light extended just a little further, we would be able to see it.

We're ready for it, have been for days now. There's no way out for us, this is the end. But we're not going to go quietly. This thing that's coming for us is evil, we can feel it in our souls. If we let it escape, it will destroy the world above and all the people living there.

Worse, we made it possible for this to happen. If we hadn't dug so deep and so far, this thing would still be trapped behind a strange door in a weird cave. We will leave this life fighting to protect this world from the destruction we have brought upon it. Even if we do no more than scratch it, at least we won't die cowering in fear in some dark corner somewhere.

The others look just as scared as me, but I know them now. They are my brothers and sisters and they will not take one step back. Fear may make their legs tremble and their arms weak, but they will not give in. Together we will hurt this thing, and if we're lucky we'll hurt it so badly it won't want to go to the surface.

I've been going over my old entries and I've seen the creature's subtle influence ever since I set foot on this land, perhaps even for longer. It's guided and chased me here, to this time and place to open the way for it, and all I feel is rage. How dare it control me! No-one and nothing has the right to overrule anyone's free will to such a degree, not even gods!

I now realise that since it's free, my mind is my own again. So I'm going to make it pay for what it's done to me, my friends and everyone else it has hurt and killed over the aeons. My rage will burn away the fear and give me strength to fight, and I will not waste it. I have accepted my fate and so have the others, our reckoning is almost upon us.

As my last words to anyone who manages to find this. You **can** dig too deep and you **can** go too far. But most importantly, you should know that there are some places that should never be found, some words that should never be spoken and some doors that should never be opened.

Goodbye, old friend.

_Alex_

* * *

AN: And that's all folks. What started as a small backstory to a Minecraft world has grown into a short story of almost 9000 words and my first completed fanfic. It's been interesting and I've learnt a lot about writing and storytelling, but there's still plenty to learn.

I'm kind of sad that this is over but at the same time relieved and happy with how it's turned out. I feel like the people who (used to) live in Undercity still have many more stories to tell, like how did the fortress fall? Who was in the bunker? Was anyone else influenced by the beast? And was it actually peaceful during those missing two years? Perhaps I'll come back to this from another character's perspective and hopefully get some answers, but not all of them of course, where's the fun in that?

Comments and criticism are welcome whether they're good, bad or indifferent, so let me know what you thought of the story and also if you think I should return to Undercity.


End file.
